Ceri Radford is Assistant Comment Editor of the Telegraph.

Bill Clinton's light still shines bright

Full coverage of UK PoliticsBill Clinton has been out of the White House for almost a decade, but he remains the 800 lb gorilla of left-wing politics around the world. The boy from Hope is currently sat around a table with various other serving heads of government somewhere near Watford. But despite being essentially a has-been, the rest of the Progressive Governance scout-troop unquestioningly defer to Clinton.

Ten years out of office, Mr Clinton still inspires awe in some

Kevin Rudd, Australia's entertainingly geeky PM (think Bill Gates but shorter, poorerÂ and less comprehensible – he just said something about a "big box of low-hanging fruit") is attempting to chair a debate about global warming.

At the start, he sternly warned participants to speak for no more than three minutes, an instruction almost universally honoured. Almost, because Big Bill happily rambled on for oh, about a week, telling them about what he did on his holidays and blithely mis-remembering various facts and figures on greenery. At his elbow, Gordon Brown gazed on, calf-like eyes full of liquid devotion.

Welcome to Watford, Bill. They love you. They still love you, and on this showing, they always will.